Youth 'disappears' in SLA custody

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]A youth from the refugee camp in nearby Vinayakapuram who was arrested by the Sri Lankan army from the Kiran bridge camp on Jan.31,while on his way to collect firewood has gone missing say his parents.

The army at the Kiran bridge camp have denied that they ever arrested the youth, Sivaguru Yogeswaran, 17.

But the parents say that many others who went with their son that day saw him being detained by the soldiers at this camp.

The parents keep going to the camp regularly to plead with the officers there to tell them about their son's whereabouts.

Sivaguru and his family fled their village of Oothuchchenai in 1990 when the SLA moved into the area and massacred civilians.

Efforts to resettle these refugees were given up due to the army's objections. Oothuchchenai is near the Sinhala border about fifty kilometers northwest of Batticaloa.